By Mark Staniforth, PA Sport

Cuba's Teofilo Stevenson was the proudest of all Olympic champions, a heavyweight boxer who turned down millions of dollars in the pursuit of golden glory for his country.

Intensely proud of his socialist principles, Stevenson was the darling of Fidel Castro's communist regime on the Caribbean island when he swept to a three successive gold medals in 1972, 1976 and 1980.

A perfectly-sculpted athlete with dazzling good looks and a crashing right hand, Stevenson was likely to have made it four golds in Los Angeles in 1984 but was scuppered by the Cuban boycott.

In a professional era of heavyweight legends like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Larry Holmes, Stevenson would have held his head up high.

He stormed to his first Olympic gold in Munich, needing just six rounds in the entire competition.

Victory allowed him to succeed George Foreman - and Frazier before him - as heavyweight champion.

The professional promoters circled like vultures over this 20-year-old superstar in the making.

But Stevenson rejected offers of up to $US2million to turn his back on his amateur status and his country.

Stevenson was born in the village of Dcilias in 1952 and fought his way to prominence in a country universally acknowledged as amateur boxing's fighting heart.

Hitting his peak around 1980, he would have made an ideal professional rival for Holmes - the only two men capable of filling the void created by Ali's retirement.

But instead Stevenson continued to rule in the amateur world.

He made his first international appearance at the 1971 Pan-American Games in Cali, Colombia and was not beaten in worldwide competition for 11 years, a run ended by future WBO heavyweight champion Francesco Damiani of Italy in 1982.

Stevenson won gold medals at the 1975 and 1979 Pan-Am Games and was world amateur champion in 1974, 1978 and 1986.

Upon his retirement he was still sufficiently loved by the Cuban people, and trusted by Castro, to be made a travelling sports ambassador.

It is through that role that Stevenson has met and befriended Ali. There will always be arguments about what would have happened had Stevenson given in to the lure of Don King's millions and met 'The Greatest' in the ring.

It is possible he would have changed the course of boxing history.